I need to plan for an edible bean crop on the farm.Soybeans are easy to grow,so why not pintos or black beans?
It’s easy to grow and pack your own dry beans. Just let the vines die back and everything, including the pods, dry out. When the pods reach the state of “leather britches”, up root them. Use a big barrel to shake the beans loose by smacking the dried plants upside down in the barrel.
Just make sure the individual beans are completely dry before you package them or they’ll go moldy.
Use the tooth dent test. Bite a bean, and if it makes a dent, it’s still not dry enough.
I vote for pintos. They are Hubby’s favorites, and our grocery sells them in 10 lb. bags. A person can also take them out of the grocery bag, and plant them to grow more.
Some beans prefer different growing conditions than others, so if you (or anyone else reading this) haven’t grown dry beans before, I’d recommend getting several varieties and growing them to compare.
Some variety is good to have, anyway. I have seeds for about 14 different kinds of beans right now, and I have a list of which ones might cross with each other. Last year I tested my runner beans and popping chickpeas. This year I’ll be testing the limas, hyacinth beans, and nunas.